Our Destiny
Our Destiny is a fanfiction made by Summerleaf. It is part of the Zero Hour book collection, and is book one of arc one. Enjoy! :3 Notes The Prologue may be confusing because in the beginning it seems it has nothing to do with the actual story, but don't worry! It comes up later on. Prologue - Torch Torch cowered in the corner of the cell, hissing at the SkyWing guards furiously. "Stay back!" he snarled. "Back!" The guard in the front flared her wings and growled menacingly. "Get out. Now." Torch scowled stubbornly. "I don't have to do what you say," he snorted. "Don't defy me!" the guard roared. She snaked forward and grabbed Torch's arm roughly. A simple flick of her tail summoned the other three guards, who were on him in three seconds flat. Torch opened his mouth threateningly, and a hissing sound started. Suddenly, a burst of fire shot out of his mouth and hit the lead guard. She let out a screech and lashed her talon at Torch, ripping a out a row of scales on his flank. Torch clenched his teeth and attempted to open a gash on any one of the guards, and succeeded on two. Their screams echoed in his ears as he stumbled out of the cell. The third guard ambled out of the cell, and locked his eyes on Torch. They were alight with anger and hatred. "You killed her!" he screeched. Torch's eyes widened in surprise as he limped as quickly as he could through the halls. The guard was right on his tail, crashing into things and making such a ruckus Torch thought it was a wonder Queen Ruby hadn't come running toward them by now. Torch didn't know where he was going; his mind was a jumbled mess at the moment. He collapsed into the arena, where two dragons were dueling and hissing at each other. The crowd gasped with delight as Torch came into view. Queen Ruby was furious. "Get him out of there!" she roared. The SkyWing guard on her right cleared his throat nervously. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, the audience seems to like this imposer. Perhaps we should just incorporate him as another dueler." "Hmm, perhaps... Good work, Bash, you've never upset me," Ruby snorted, quite pleased. Torch didn't hear any of this, only the deafening roar of the crowd, and a peculiar ringing in his left ear. With a jolt, Torch realized his nose had begun to bleed, and he was deaf in one ear. The guard behind him let out a triumphant cry and pinned Torch down with four strong talons. He twisted Torch's snout into the earth so he couldn't breath fire, and used his two forelegs to tether his powerful wings to the ground. Torch spat out dirt and rocks from his mouth and thrashed and clawed at his opponent desperately, but the guard was too strong. His hind legs were now pinned as well, so all he could do was flail his forearms pathetically. "Goodbye, SkyWing," snarled the guard. He carefully placed one talon at the joint where his wing and shoulder connected, and another at his wing bone. Torch looked into the guard's eyes, terrified, and all he could see was anger. Dark anger. "Mmmmmph," was all he could say. Then the guard pulled; hard. Torch let out an agonized scream, half buried in the earth. He jolted and writhed violently, trying to throw the guard off. He simply gripped Torch harder and ripped his remaining wing off as well. "How does it feel to die?" hissed the guard. "This is how my mother felt when you killed her!" Torch felt the world slipping away, into darkness, into infinity... "Save me Flicker," he whispered. "Save me..." Chapter 1 - Flickergem/Ultraviolet Flickergem glided past Ultraviolet, her mane whisking away from her face. She heaved a deep breath and gazed below, her sharp eyes picking up a tiny jerk from a buffalo herd below. "Race ya!" she shouted, zipping past Ultraviolet and leaving her clueless behind her. Delight tingled at her snout and passed through her wings to the tip of her tail. Ultraviolet sailed beside her and grinned. "I see them too! Yuck, there's so much yellow." Flickergem laughed and tipped her wings back some more to gain momentum. Ultraviolet could only see in ultraviolet, which was super weird because none of her parents had that ability. 'It's a blessing, and a curse,' Flickergem recalled her saying. It was easy to spot animals though, because their waste left behind a bright yellow color in ultraviolet vision. She flicked her ear, a habit only Flickergem had, and as she neared the ground flared her wings and snatched one of the buffalo from the ground. It moaned and kicked as hard as it could, but Flickergem snapped it's spine with a jerk of her talon. She glanced to the left to see if Ultraviolet had caught anything and she had! A rather fat one, if she did say so herself. "Nice catch!" Flickergem praised. "You were always a better hunter than I." Ultraviolet looked away, embarrassed. "Oh, I don't know about that..." "UV, don't be so modest! That's enough to feed three full grown dragons!" "Heh, thanks! Now let us get these meals back to the palace. Arrow'll be waiting," Ultraviolet replied. Together they flew back to the SkyWing palace. Life felt perfect for them. The wind through their scales, the fresh breeze flooding into their lungs; surely this was their destiny. (Sorry this chapter was so short!) Chapter 2 - Flickergem/Ultraviolet Arrowflight was waiting impatiently when Ultraviolet and Flickergem arrived. "There you two are!" she exclaimed, her tail lashing irritably. "You'd think they're the only dragonets with special needs by the way they act," she muttered under her breath. Catching Arrowflight's complaint, Flickergem shouted, "We are!" Arrowflight rounded on her and hissed loudly. "Look kid, I'm the leader around here; and don't you forget it!" Flickergem's light attitude vanished. Her bright green eyes stared at Arrowflight's and she held it there until she had to swat Flickergem on the snout. "Don't cross the line, kid," she snarled. Flickergem looked at the ground, anger clear in her stiff movements. Ultraviolet was watching hopelessly from a ways back and ran to catch up to Flickergem. "Hey, don't worry! Arrowflight's just a big meanie." "You bet she is," growled Flickergem. She stalked to a nearby bush and settled down there. Ultraviolet followed. "Why does Arrowflight hate us so much?" she sighed, her eyes sparkling with emotion. "Why does everyone hate us?" Ultraviolet licked her cheek comfortingly. "She doesn't hate us. No one does. We're just... different, that's all." Flickergem lowered her head and started to hum. I am a little dragonet That no one really loves. My carer doesn't care, And my lover doesn't love. I feel so alone here, But no one takes any mind. Oh tell me, why, oh why This feels so wrong. This is my home, But also my prison. I'm alone... Ultraviolet nuzzled Flickergem. "C'mon, stop singing so sad! It's not that bad!" "It is..." Flickergem cried, tears trickling down her face. "I've realized lately... That this is not where we are supposed to be. This is not out home, or our destiny." Ultraviolet stared at her. "What are you saying?" "I'm saying..." sniffed Flickergem. "I think we should leave. Leave the SwiftWing island. Forever." A look of horror flooded into Ultraviolet's eyes. "No!" she shouted, standing up in a rush. "No, we can't! I'm here for you, Flicker! We have to stay! Who will take care of us? C'mon Flicker, you can't possibly be thinking of leaving!" Flickergem looked at the dirt. "I am. And I've made up my choice." She stared at Ultraviolet in the eye. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning. With or without you." Ultraviolet roared in grief. "No! Please, Flickergem, please!" she was crying now, tears flying from her eyes as she paced wildly. "Please, stay! Please, please, please, stay! If you leave, I'll throw myself off a cliff! Please, Flickergem! Don't leave!" Flickergem's expression turned as hard as ice. "Come or don't. That's your choice." She stalked off to her nest, leaving Ultraviolet there alone, her tears turning the dust to mud. "No..." she whispered desperately. She gathered herself in the dirt and slept there, in the waste of her tears. She propped her tail over her snout and snored, a mix between a growl and a sniff. Chapter 3 - Ultraviolet Ultraviolet woke the next morning, her eyes bloodshot from all the crying last night. Her nostrils flared but they couldn't smell because of all the snot encrusted around it. She shook her head and realized with a jolt what was happening. Flickergem was leaving! Now! Ultraviolet gasped and shot off to Flickergem's den. She plopped in front, but knew she wasn't there. Flickergem had already left. She lifted off again, this time to the highest place on the island; Mount Mistwing. Flickergem would've lifted off there for better wind currents. "Thank the three moons I know Flicker so well," she muttered under her breath. By the time she got there, each breath felt like inhaling needles. The icy wind whipped around her scales, which were already crusting over with ice. Ultraviolet collapsed and heaved in a deep breath, then lifted off to search for Flickergem. Purples, greens, and yellows were all she could see, and warm-blooded creatures looked the same to her as cold-blooded. Finding Flickergem would prove to be a challenge. Ultraviolet always wondered what the other colors looked like. Like blue or red. Flickergem always described blue as a soft, comforting color. The sky was blue, and so was the ocean. And red was a more passionate color. Blood was red, but Flickergem was as well. "Colors must be confusing," Ultraviolet recalled her saying one day with Flickergem. And Flickergem laughed. "Now tell me what it's like seeing in ultraviolet!" She thought for a few seconds. Ultraviolet and Flickergem were complete opposites. Ultraviolet was a deep thinker, and as silent as the wind that allowed them to fly. Flickergem on the other talon was spunky and loud, as passionate as the wildfire that swept through so many lands. "Seeing in ultraviolet," she finally started, "is like normal seeing, but with only some colors. Like purple and green and yellow." "That sounds cool!" Flickergem said enthusiastically. "Sometimes," Ultraviolet admitted. Flickergem nuzzled Ultraviolet and grinned. "Do you think we can ever change? Like, be normal?" "No. But I don't want to." "Me neither." Ultraviolet faded back to reality as she saw the slender shape of a dragon. A female dragonet, by the looks of it. That could be Flicker! she thought excitedly. She pumped her wings as hard as she could to catch up to the dragonet. She looks injured, ''Ultraviolet realized with a jolt. Her wings were tattered and bloody, and her wing-beats were uneven. Her tail was streaked with dirt and looked infected. Ultraviolet quickly gained on her and she realized it wasn't Flickergem. She almost stopped, but quickly pondered if she should help the dragon or not. She gazed at the dragonet wearily. She would help, but at the first sign of attack she'd turn tail and run. "Hey!" she shouted to the dragonet. "Do you need help?" The dragonet looked back and screeched. She beat her wings faster, but faltered and fell down to the razor-sharp rocks below. Startled, Ultraviolet shouted, "I'm coming!" She twirled down at a starling speed and snatched her before she could hit the ground. Upon further inspection, the dragonet looked like an AviWing. "Let me go!" the dragonet screamed. She clawed at Ultraviolet's hide and bit down hard on her forearm. "OW!!" Ultraviolet shrieked. "Stop it! I'm trying to help!" The AviWing stopped struggling. "W-who are you?" "I'm a SwiftWing named Ultraviolet. Who are you?" "My name is Hummingbird. I escaped from Queen Ruby's palace. Were you a prisoner there too?" The poor AviWing looked terrified, but her feathers smoothed down a bit. "No. I'm just trying to find my friend," Ultraviolet replied. "Is she lost?" "In a way." Ultraviolet's scales ruffled in the wind. "She's lost in an emotional way. I need to find her and bring her home." "I see. I still need to recover... I know of a plant that'll heal this infection. See you round?" Hummingbird tilted her head to one side questioningly. "Sure. If we ever do it'll be of pure luck," Ultraviolet smiled. "Okay," Hummingbird nodded. "Goodbye!" "Bye!" Ultraviolet watched as the little dragonet flapped away. "Hey! How old are you?" she called curiously. "16!" she said, not looking back. ''16! She's older than me! And half my size! Ultraviolet thought. Her startled eyes watched the AviWing as she spiraled down to the ground and landed. I suppose that's why they call her Hummingbird. Ultraviolet turned and flew off; hope lifting her wings once more. This was not her destiny. Not to be a wanderer or an adventurer. It was back home with Flickergem, relaxing under the shade of an oak tree. But was is really? The teasing... the bullying they had to go through every day... was it really worth it? Was it really their destiny? The next book in the arc can be found here Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Fanon) Category:Fanfictions (Completed) Category:Content (Summerleaf)